This invention relates to paper bags, and in particular to paper bags having removable stiffening members which will maintain the mouth of the bag open and prevent the bag from reverting to a folded position.
It is common practice for supermarkets and variety stores to package customer's goods by placing them in a relatively tough, conventional paper bag. These paper bags or sacks are of a substantially standard size and shape, having a uniform rectangular horizontal cross-section, a flat bottom, and measuring approximately 12 inches long by 7 inches wide by 17 inches high. To enable a supermarket to conveniently store these bags for use, the bags are folded by creasing the opposing longitudinal side panels, permitting the opposing long panels to be folded together and the bottom panel to be folded alongside.
It is very common practice for purchasers of supermarket goods to save paper sacks for use around the home, e.g., as refuse receptacles. The bags may be placed inside of round or rectangular containers, such as waste baskets, or may simply be used themselves as freestanding containers, since the bags have sufficient rigidity to be self-maintaining in an upright position. The bag thereby serves as a handy container for refuse which may be thrown away along with the refuse. At the present time, millions of these bags are dispensed daily at no extra cost to the consumer.
A recurring and irritating problem associated with the use of paper sacks as refuse receptacles involves the "memory" of the bag which causes a tendency to return to its folded condition. When a bag is placed in upright position, the vertical creases in the opposing side panels tend to return to the folded condition, thereby closing the mouth of the bag. Accordingly, when refuse is thrown into the bag, it is necessary to reach over and open the mouth of the bag with one hand while jettisoning the refuse with the other hand. The present invention solves this problem by providing for use with a creased sack a pair of stiffening members which clip over the upper edges of the creased side panels, thereby preventing the side panels from collapsing to their folded condition. The stiffening members comprise a pair of rigid or semi-rigid flaps which extend over the upper edges of the side panels and a clip which extend over the flap and grips the flap in place on the side panel. In addition to maintaining the bag in an open position, the flaps of the stiffening members can be used to carry advertising, e.g., a supermarket name or logo.
It is known in the prior art to have devices which fit inside the openings of various types of bags to maintain the bag mouth in an open position. For example, Kaiser, U.S. Pat. No. 791,472, and Boyle, U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,778, disclose various devices which can be inserted into the interior of limp plastic or cloth bags to provide support for holding the bags. Both of these devices are somewhat complex, non-disposable devices, each serving a purpose other than support; for example, the Boyle device protects the plastic bag from contact with refuse entering the bag during loading, and the Kaiser device acts as a scoop for guiding material into the bag. Buttery, U.S. Pat. No. 2,430,155 shows a different sort of holder for a plastic bag. A paper bag having its upper edges lined on the interior with a flexible but tough reinforcement member such as a wire is shown in Arai, U.S. Pat. No. 3,578,236. The internal wire permits the bag to be easily retained in the open or closed position; however, manufacture of the bag is somewhat more expensive than is justified by normal supermarket retailing operations.
It is also well known to have paper clip type members which are used in conjunction with a foldable member which is intermediary between the clip and the article to be held, as shown for example in Woodley, U.S. Pat. No. 1,997,894, and Brady, U.S. Pat. No. 2,774,124.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a combination of a stiffening member with a creased paper bag which will enable the paper bag to be self-supporting with the bag mouth retained in the open position. It is a particular object of the invention to provide a combination of a semi-rigid paper bag with a pair of stiffening members mounted upon opposing upper edges of the bag, with the length of each stiffening member slightly exceeding the length of the edge of the bag panel on which it is mounted, thereby forcing the bag opening into a somewhat round configuration. These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof.